Protecting States’ and Tribes’ Voices on Clean Water Nationwide A Trump rule gutted provisions of the Clean Water Act (Section 401), which for nearly 50 years provided for states’ and authorized Tribes’ self-determination in permitting for a wide array of...
Protecting Native Steelhead in the North and South Santiam Rivers In 1999, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed native winter steelhead trout in the upper Willamette River basin in Oregon as threatened with extinction. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pays for...
Protecting Amphibian Critical Habitat in the Sierra Nevada High elevation meadows and streams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains provide important habitat for the Yosemite toad and Sierra Nevada mountain yellow-legged frog, both of which are threatened with extinction....
Protecting Klamath River Salmon From Grazing Wild coho salmon in the upper Klamath River in California are at “high risk of extinction,” in part because of cattle grazing. Coho find habitat along sensitive streams such as Horse Creek and Beaver Creek, which have high...
VICTORY! Oregon Suction Dredge Moratorium We fought hard against the practice of motorized suction dredge mining in Oregon’s streams because it disturbs our shared rivers and harms wild salmon and steelhead. WELC helped our conservation colleagues engage legislators...
Victory! Defending the Wild and Scenic Rogue River In 2016 the Bureau of Land Management recognized that the middle section of the Rogue River in Oregon—sandwiched between protected segments downstream from Crater Lake National Park, and upstream of the famed Blossom...
VICTORY! Curbing the Federal Fur Export Program Through an international endangered species trade treaty, the federal government is facilitating the mass export of furs and other animal parts to other countries where fur coats and the like are still socially...
VICTORY! Protecting Puget Sound Chinook Salmon, Bull Trout, and Steelhead The Puyallup River originates in glaciers along the slopes of Mount Rainier in the Cascade Mountains in Washington and flows through lands owned by the Puyallup Tribe to Commencement Bay in...
Restoring the Similkameen River by removing Enloe Dam Until 2019, the Okanagon Public Utility District planned to re-energize north-central Washington’s dormant Enloe Dam, a 54-foot concrete wall blocking hundreds of miles of upstream salmon and steelhead...
Restoring Gray Wolves in Oregon Oregon currently has at least 112 wolves in 11 packs, with 8 breeding pairs. Against the wishes of WELC and numerous other conservation organizations, in 2015, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission delisted the gray wolf from state...